The cytokine receptor CD27 is a member of the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TFNR) superfamily, which play a role in cell growth and differentiation, as well as apoptosis. The ligand for CD27 is CD70, which belongs to the tumour necrosis factor family of ligands. CD70 is a 193 amino acid polypeptide having a 20 amino acid hydrophilic N-terminal domain and a C-terminal domain containing 2 potential N-linked glycosylation sites (Goodwin, R. G. et al. (1993) Cell 73:447-56; Bowman et al. (1994) Immunol 152: 1756-61). Based on these features, CD70 was determined to be a type II transmembrane protein having an extracellular C-terminal portion.
CD70 is transiently found on activated T and B lymphocytes and dendritic cells (Hintzen et al. (1994) J. Immunol. 152: 1762-1773; Oshima et al. (1998) Int. Immunol. 10:517-26; Tesselaar et al. (2003) J. Immunol. 170:33-40). In addition to expression on normal cells, CD70 expression has been reported in different types of cancers including renal cell carcinomas, metastatic breast cancers, brain tumours, leukemias, lymphomas and nasopharyngeal carcinomas (Dunker et al. (2005) J Urol. 173:2150-3; Sloan et al. (2004) Am J Pathol. 164:315-23; Held-Feindt and Mentlein (2002) Int J Cancer 98:352-6; Hishima et al. (2000) Am J Surg Pathol. 24:742-6; Lens et al. (1999) Br J Haematol. 106:491-503). The interaction of CD70 with CD27 has also been proposed to play a role in cell-mediated autoimmune disease and the inhibition of TNF-alpha production (Nakajima et al. (2000) J. Neuroimmunol. 109:188-96).
Accordingly, CD70 represents a target for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders and a variety of other diseases characterized by CD70 expression.
WO 2006/0044643 describes CD70 antibodies containing an antibody effector domain which can mediate one or more of ADCC, ADCP, CDC or ADC and either exert a cytostatic or cytotoxic effect on a CD70-expressing cancer or exert an immunosuppressive effect on a CD70-expressing immunological disorder in the absence of conjugation to a cytostatic or cytotoxic agent. The antibodies exemplified therein are based on the antigen-binding regions of two monoclonal antibodies, denoted 1F6 and 2F2.
WO 2007/038637 describes fully human monoclonal antibodies that bind to CD70. These antibodies are characterised by binding to human CD70 with a KD of 1×10−7 M or less. The antibodies also bind to, and are internalised by, renal cell carcinoma tumor cell lines which express CD70, such as 786-O.